Tried fishing out of my car and.. . .

And I decided to get me another boat. Nothing special. But it sure makes fishing so much better than in a canoe. Our original boat was crushed by a tree this summer when a micro-burst cam through. I am liking this one much better as it has three seats where as my old one only had two. There are no dents no patches. I am really pleased. It is an older model and that is what I was looking for. It has handles in the rear making moving it around much easier. Most modern ones don't have them. It has a reinforced rib down the exterior of the bottom as well as them down each side making island landings not a problem. I have a 42 lb thrust trolling motor and a huge deep cycle battery that moves it along good enough for me. I like it that it basically runs silent and it makes moving in and out of my top secret fishing spots a snap.

One of the key things was making sure it fit in my truck. It fit with absolutely no room to spare width wise.

My wife and her mom and aunt inspecting things

Nice! If you're happy with your motor, all you need to add is a perch for the ice chest.

I grew up fishing out of a boat. We had a camper at a campground on Brookville lake in Indiana. During the summer we would fish from before dawn all day long. On the weekend when all the skiers and weekend party people came out we would go out at night and fish all night long. I haven't done a lot of fishing since Dad passed in '98.

I took my 4yo fishing last weekend. It was awesome he caught his first fish, he was pulling bluegill in as fast as I could get his line back out there.

I do not get any joy fishing off of the bank. I am seriously thinking about getting a boat. We have so many different lakes and rivers within an hours drive from home.

Of course I don't have a vehicle that could pull a boat so that is going to add to the cost. In my mind the perfect setup would be a Chevy Astro and a 14-16' Jon boat with a 7.5hp motor and a trolling motor. I could see being all in for around $5000.

Looks like you got a nice one. Good luck.

The good thing is I can leave it at the lake house. The bad is it is at the lake house and that is 2 hours away. This is only a 12'. If I step up to a 14 or 16 it will be a Boston whaler but they are commanding some serious $$$$ as compared to the little v hull aluminum ones. I have less than $500 in to the boat motor and battery. I got lucky on the boat as I was up in NH and happened to find this one while I was up there. Everything down in MA was very expensive and most of it was either junk or to modern for me. I have had a great time taking the kids out fishing with it. My daughter caught the biggest bass this vacation. I caught a whopper of a pickerel (insert fish story here). We would get up at at dawn head out till nine or ten and then come in and spend the rest of the day swimming or what not. Then we head back out at six or so (after dinner) and fish until the bugs get to bad. Usually an hour or so after sun down. This basically sums up my entire vacation!!!!

Fishing is a great thing to do with kids. It is time away from all the modern phones and computers and you can enjoy being out on the lake and talking about everything and nothing. You get to know your kids.

fried green corrado wrote: Nice! If you're happy with your motor, all you need to add is a perch for the ice chest.

I am actually trying to figure out a couple of things that I want to add.

1. Seats for two people to sit in and fish from. I want these removable and when removed I want to maintain the usability of the mahogany seats for when we take everyone out on a after dinner cruise around the lake at sunset.

2. Some sort of lever setup that would control speed and steering. from a fishing seat. I was thinking a lever setup one for steering and one to control the power/direction.

3. Install some running lights that I could power off the battery as we end up fishing at night. I am thinking LED units that draw very little power.

Everything has to be small and removable as after all this is still just a rowboat.

We just moved to the water and let me tell you it is freakin awesome .

A bunch of mullet and bass and small pan fish . Lotsa crabs in the river , we are at the head springs of the Homosassa river which we can take all the way out to the gulf of mex . !6 foot Landau w/ 40 horse Yamaha oil inject . Could not ask for better stress reliever .

dean1484 wrote: 2. Some sort of lever setup that would control speed and steering. from a fishing seat. I was thinking a lever setup one for steering and one to control the power/direction. 3. Install some running lights that I could power off the battery as we end up fishing at night. I am thinking LED units that draw very little power. Everything has to be small and removable as after all this is still just a rowboat.

I really can't think of anything for the seats, but do you think foot pedals might work for the helm & speed? I seem to recall my dad having a trolling motor in the 70s with a pedal for speed, so that you had a hand free to keep a line in the water.

And yeah, there's got to be red & green LEDs out there. Brighter and draws less current than regular nav light kits.

Karl La Follette wrote: Lotsa crabs in the river ,

Get some water boiling, Karl. We gonna eat.

That is making me hungery!!!

In reply to dean1484:

Heard a grocer once estimate that 80% of chicken necks sold in coastal communities is actually used for crab bait.

That's a sweet little rig you got there! Makes me want to finish up this 15 Whaler project I have going on.

dean1484, only link I can find to a foot-steering device is for a discontinued product that not a lot of people seem to like.

http://reviews.basspro.com/2010/10214272/procontroll-procontroll-transom-trolling-motor-foot-control-reviews/reviews.htm

I'm actually kind of surprised, I thought someone would have created something like this (that actually worked) by now.

I've been thinking about one too.

Have you guys ever used one of the plastic two man boats, Bass Raider or the like? Wider than a canoe, you sit a little higher up, but I've never been in one. I'm looking just at weights and the 12 foot ones are listed at 120 lbs. I can put that on my roof and take it around. I'm assuming a jon boat of the same length would be too heavy for my roof.

And I took my 2.5 year old fishing this weekend. We caught some brim which is nothing new, then we landed 3 trout on Sat morning. It was very cool. So we went again Sun morning. He only lasted about 2 cast that time. As I was reeling in the 3rd cast after he already wandered off, a largemouth hit it. I got it about 8" from the bank and was just reaching down to grab him when he broke me off. It was a nice 2-3 lb fish. Obviously my kid's Mickey Mouse pole was not rated for that big guy...I'll be changing out the line this week.

Dean1484 - That little Starcraft will last you forever - we have the same (but 14 foot) with a 9.9 Evinrude that my Dad bought used in 1981... still starts every time, and doesn't leak a drop... Enjoy...

To Octaviuos - nice fishing story

Fishing from the car is about the only reason to have a convertible in my book.

Kayaks are also really good for getting out on the water. I have a 14" Jonboat with a 15 horsepower outboard on it, and I have taken it out once since I got my kayak.

That said, did buy an old starcraft hull to make into a family "go out on the lake" boat. It'll be fun.

Wifey and I went out on the kayaks last night. It's nice to be able to just toss them in the back of the pickup and carry them down to the water. It makes boating a lot easier and makes them more likely to get used.

I took the JetSki out over the weekend after a substantial overhaul. Ran like a champ, but apparently you DO need a bilge pump!

pinchvalve wrote: I took the JetSki out over the weekend after a substantial overhaul. Ran like a champ, but apparently you DO need a bilge pump!

what ski? and what did you re-do? i've got a 97 seadoo, looking for a second to do some family touring on.....

into watersports

<img src="" /> I fish rivers quite often, in the boat and out of the boat. The boat makes a great place to keep the cooler and tackle while wading. I catch alot of Smallmouth Bass. This was last sunday on the Shiawassee River near Byron MI

Heh, heh..Karl pulled the trolling motor back up, and started chasing the shrimper.

Karl, don't chase the empty ones--wait until they're coming home!!

Aside to pilotbraden: This might sound strange from a coastal kid..but I actually feel more relaxed fooling around in the ocean than I do standing hip deep in freshwater. Both have potentially hazardous "critters" swimming around, I honestly don't know why the fresh bothers me more than the salt. Bass & Bream are good food, though.

Damian Fish On ! Sonny and Cher agreed !

Fish On!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SuVeTJLNM

Fishmasters!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfTvFzg_Ac8

(cable access channel show when I was in high school in central coast, CA)

Jr. (9 yrs, and with a Bob Costas dad who hasn't really fished since he was 8) caught a 12" rainbow when we went camping a couple weekends ago. F'in A.